Top-class supporters

Nottingham Forest manager Stuart Pearce believes two sets of Premier League-standard supporters will descend on The City Ground on Saturday.

Sheffield Wednesday have sold out their allocation for this weekend’s match and Pearce is looking forward to another excellent atmosphere on Trentside.

The manager told Forest Player: “It’s a Championship game, but support-wise it could easily be a Premier League game. It will be a good atmosphere on the day.

“They’re a very well-organised team with a good manager in Stuart Gray. He’s someone myself and Steve Wigley know very well – he’s a good friend of ours. He’s handled the pressures under a tight budget and done a really good job.

“Defensively they’re very tight and it’ll be a tough game for us, as it was at Hillsborough.”

The reverse fixture saw The Reds emerge victorious from a tight affair, Henri Lansbury scoring the only goal of the game.

But Lansbury will be unavailable for selection this weekend as he serves the second of a two-match suspension, while the manager also confirmed Matty Fryatt and Michael Mancienne will be missing for ‘a week or two at least’.

Andy Reid has been involved in training this week but is described by Pearce as being ‘still a way short’ of match fitness, while it is hoped Kelvin Wilson will have fully recovered from a bug he picked up earlier in the week in time to face the Owls.

Pearce also had a positive update on Jack Hobbs, who played the full 90 minutes in last weekend’s FA Cup match at Rochdale – his first involvement since September.

He said: “He’s done brilliantly. The most important thing for us is that he’s come through and felt no problems from his injury.